Indian family resists Mumbai's 'Trump Tower'

Mumbai is India’s economic and financial capital
© AFP/File Indranil Mukherjee

MUMBAI (AFP) – An Indian family is refusing to budge from their home in Mumbai to make way for a new luxury apartment block being built by billionaire US property tycoon Donald Trump, a city newspaper said on Friday.

The Panvalkar family say they will not move from their first-floor flat in a building earmarked for demolition to make way for the tower block, claiming that Trump’s local partner has refused to give them alternative accommodation.

Property firm Rohan Lifescapes denied the allegations, insisting that they had offered to relocate the family until the new complex was complete, at which time they would get an apartment in the block, the Mumbai Mirror reported.

No one was immediately available for comment at Rohan Lifescapes when contacted by AFP.

Trump, who presents the television show “The Apprentice”, entered into the partnership for his first foray in the Indian property market, where demand is growing for luxury accommodation on the back of the country’s economic boom.

His venture off the sweeping Marine Drive promenade near the city’s landmark Chowpatty beach has been dubbed “Trump Tower, Mumbai” by the local media.

The Panvalkars would not be the first to hold out against the straight-talking Trump, who recently decided not to run for the US presidency.

Work on what he said would be “the world’s greatest golf course” near the Scottish city of Aberdeen was delayed for four years over environmental concerns, sparking public inquiries and government intervention.

One salmon fisherman, whose ramshackle farm was in the way of the proposed second hole, refused to leave.

Work eventually started on the $1.1 billion scheme, which also includes holiday apartments, last year.

But according to a report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper this week, Trump has been forced to postpone the opening of the Scottish golf resort until at least July next year owing to the global financial crisis.

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